Borrowed Wings
by billy morph
Summary: They took me a month ago. Gave me wings. Made me Fly. But I escaped. So now they want me back and they'll never stop hunting me. Never stop hurting me.
1. Fly

Disclamer: I don't own any of James Patterson's stuff. My ideas are my own though.

Borrowed Wings

Fly

The buzzer sounded and I started running. I didn't want to but there were those wicked wolf-men with their wicked claws and wicked grins right behind me. I ran out into the yard and looked up at the open sky. My first sight of it since I'd been captured a month ago. There was a growl of frustration behind me and I ran faster. I looked over my shoulder and saw one of the Erasers holding the others back. Giving me a head start. Like that would help.

The door led into a corridor of razor wire and I sprinted through it, the cruel barbs only inches from my sweaty face. There was a barked command from behind me and the Erasers started running. Hell! I went faster. Faster than I thought I could ever go before. The Erasers were gaining on me though, some of them looking just like regular people and some fully morphed and running on all fours. And to think I used to like wolves.

The razor wire dropped to about waist height but there was no way I could climb over it, the Erasers were too close anyway. An Eraser snapped at my heel then dropped back, toying with me; I squeezed a drop of more speed but the Erasers kept pace easily, hardly breaking a sweat. The razor wire fence came to a dead end, a literal dead end. _'Who'd build a corridor that's a dead end?' _I thought angrily. I knew who. The load of sicko scientists that had been holding me for the last month. They didn't want to trap me though. Oh no they had something far worse in mind.

I wanted to cry. Those fking scientists. They'd trapped me far better than the Erasers and razor wire ever could. I opened my wings with tears in my eyes. Beautiful tawny yellow wings, glinting gold in the soft afternoon light.

I hated them.

They'd done this to me. Those freaking scientists. I was perfectly normal until they'd got their filthy hands on me but now I was a monstrosity.

I didn't bother flapping; I knew I was going fast enough to leap into the air though how I had no idea. A small jump threw me into the air and sent me soaring over the end of the razor wire. I pushed down hard with my wings, trimming them to give me more lift without thinking.

'_What have they done to me?' _I thought quietly in the corner of my mind, but I knew what they had done, I'd had a month to think about it. And now they were going to kill me, just like all the others. I heard a scream of pain and risked a look back; one of the Erasers had run right into the wire. I smiled despite myself. Nothing like seeing your captors suffer. The smirk was wiped off my face as the other Erasers unfurled their own night black wings and laboured into the sky.

I gained height and went faster, feeling the new muscles across my chest labouring to move my golden wings. It was incredible, and terrible. I was a freak, a kid with bulky wings tacked to her back. Even if I did escape what life lay before me? For a moment I considered letting them catch me, give it all up, or simply folding in my wings and crashing into the treetops twenty feet below. Then I saw the Erasers closing fast and decided that, on balance, I wanted to live.

I flapped my wings faster, feeling the gentle flow of air beneath my secondary feathers and instinctively finding the path of least resistance. It was scary, I could even sense a thermal thirty feet to my left. _'What have they done to me?'_ I thought again, half heartedly, but I knew. They hadn't just taped wings to my back; they'd messed with my whole DNA.

One of the Erasers yelled something but I couldn't hear it over the roar of the wind. That was probably a good thing. I looked back then banked sharply as an Eraser screamed past, claws outstretched. He tore twin gouges of feather out of my wing; I yelled in pain and kicked out at him. I missed, but there was a muffled crash as he slammed into the trees below.

'_Pain pain go away come again some other day,'_ I though, gritting my teeth and wincing every time I flapped my injured wing. I had no idea why that childish rhyme was running through my head.

I just wanted to fold in my wing and stop the pain, lick my wounds, curl up in a ball and convince myself that this wasn't happening. But I couldn't stop. The Erasers would kill me. Horribly. Then again, they probably would anyway.

I fought through the pain and flapped harder. I told myself if I could just find a town I would be safe, someone would save me. I didn't believe it though.

An Eraser darted down and delicately plucked a feather from my wing, showing off to his buddies. I hissed in pain; just imagine having a tuft of hair ripped out. He held the feather up for the others to see and they laughed raucously.

'_Right!'_ I thought angrily, setting my jaw and holding my left wing ridged. A massive thrust with my right wing sent me spiralling up towards the guffawing Eraser. I pulled in my legs and then lashed out at him, hitting him squarely on the jaw. He yelled in pain and surprise and dropped the feather. My feather. I snatched it out of the air and jammed it into the flimsy nightgown that they had put me in when I'd arrived in a pathetic gesture of defiance. Inside I was wondering how on earth I knew that stunt would work.

The four remaining Erasers looked at me in surprise; the cat never expects the mouse to bite back. Oh, and the mouse never wins. The Erasers charged, swooping down with claws outstretched, covering every possible angle of escape with the ease of long practice.

"Hell!" I cried, folding my wings and dropping towards the trees, the Erasers following close behind. I've played enough video games to know that I was doomed but I didn't care, I wouldn't just lie down and die. I'd seen what they had done to Kit for a start. I opened my wings just above the treetops and pushed down with as hard and fast as I could. I wasn't even thinking about getting away anymore, just running.

The lead Eraser dived towards me, the centre of a rough triangle. I banked left, my wingtip scraping the top braches of a pine, feeling the G-force tugging at my insides. The Erasers tried to follow but their wings were too large and bulky. They swooped round in a long arc and then caught up the distance I'd gained in about three flaps. They formed up around me, one on each side, one above me and one behind. I was completely trapped.

"Game over, Fly!" called the Eraser above me, grinning horribly and showing his too large yellow teeth. He was right too. They charged, each closing with their claws outstretched.

"My name!" I yelled defiantly at the approaching Erasers. "Is not Fly!" I pulled up sharply and held my wings as stiff as I could. They acted like two feathery parachutes, cutting my speed with bone crushing force. I completed my miniature loop, flipped the right way up and shot forwards passing inches from an Eraser. It turns out Erasers have good reactions. He caught me across the temple with a clawed fist.

I blinked blood from my eyes and fought my way through the air. I'd bought myself about, like, three seconds but by God I was going to use them. Ahead of me I saw a lose flock of birds, hawks I think, flying lazily through the sky. _'Free as birds. Like me,' _I though blearily wiping more blood out of my eyes.

One of the Erasers rammed into me and my wings crumpled like paper. I knew this was it. I didn't have anything left. The treetops were coming up fast and I was half glad that this nightmare was about to end. Maybe. If I was very lucky I would wake up just before I hit the trees and I'd find out it had been just a terrible nightmare. One freaking month long nightmare with all the trimmings.

I wish.

I hit the trees hard. Catching my outstretched wings on unforgiving braches I raised my arms to ward off their lashing blows. My foot caught on a bough and I screamed in pain as I heard my ankle crack. I crashed into a tangle of branches which miraculously held. I hung in stunned silence, my arm hanging uselessly by my side and feeling as if every inch of skin was on fire, my insides felt like they were on fire too.

I strained to hear the sounds of the Erasers coming for me but couldn't hear anything over the blood pounding in my ears. I knew I was going to pass out. It was only a matter of time; I'd been running on adrenalin for the last few minutes anyway. In all honesty it would be a relief to get away from the pain.

I smiled despite myself. I'd beaten them. I was still a mutant freak girl with ugly taped on wings but I was alive. I felt myself slowly slipping away, one limb at a time. There was a crash of branches as something landed in a nearby tree. Vaguely man shaped. My best guess. Eraser.

'_Oh. They found me,' _I thought, strangely detached from reality. Not really caring.

Then I closed my eyes and fell into darkness.


	2. Caged Dreams

Caged Dreams 

It was a dream. I knew it was a dream because Kit was there and Kit was dead. I could see her through the bars of my cage. She looked relaxed, but I knew she wasn't. Her yellow eyes darted around the room and her tail flicked anxiously. Yes, tail. Someone's idea of a sick joke, her name was Kit and they crossed her with a cat; a tiger judging from the orange and black fur covering her whole body.

The door to the lab opened and my wings rustled nervously. I hated them, and I hated the sick _scientists_ that had done this to me, to us, me and my sister. Two White Coats came in, walking past the now empty cages. We were next, everyone else was gone. Gone to God only knows where. Probably with him actually. The White Coats stopped in front of our cages. Kit looked up at them fiercely, baring her small fangs, refusing to be culled. I quailed, pulling my wings around me instinctively.

'_Pick me,'_ I begged silently in my dream. _'Leave her, please take me.'_ They never do.

"Her," said one of the White Coats pointing at Kit who growled. A low throated rumble that would have been totally alien to her only a month ago. They hefted her cage onto a trolley, totally ignoring her warning growl and looked surprised when she lashed out at them with hidden claws.

"They're in for a challenge," observed one dryly, sucking his finger. Kit bared her fangs and smiled viciously, eyes glinting in the half light.

"Don't give up, Soph," she mouthed at me as they wheeled her away. I screamed at myself to do something. Anything. Thrash my wings, ram the lock, bend the bars. I never do though. I just sit there cowering, wrapping my horrible wings tighter around me. I never found out what happened to her. I could imagine though, whether I liked to or not.

'_Please, please, please, please! Don't let it be the autopsy again,'_ I thought desperately. I couldn't take that again, watching her struggle vainly against thick leather straps as a grinning White Coats delicately cut a ruler straight line down the soft white fur on her chest then reach down and…

It wasn't. It was a new dream. Kit was running blindly through a forest; Erasers hot on her heels. I ghosted above her on silent wings watching her struggle through yet another patch of brambles. I could see a clear path only a few feet away but she couldn't. If only I could call out to her, help her, but I couldn't make a sound, only a tiny little cheep of fear.

An Eraser leapt out of the bushes next to her and bit deeply into her thigh and she screamed in pain, whirling round and ruthlessly slashing the Eraser across the nose with her claws. He reeled back and I cheered in my head. Kit looked round triumphantly but her look of joy was replaced by a look of horror as she saw she was surrounded by a ring of vicious yellow Eraser eyes. She put up her hands unsheathing her claws and bearing her fangs.

I dived down to help her as the Erasers charged. A tangle of braches leapt at me, gripping me tightly, pinning my wings to my sides. Below me Kit went down under a flurry of slashing claws and biting teeth, bright blood flowing freely onto the ground, not all of Kit's.

"Kit no!" I cried as an Eraser locked his jaws around her throat, finally finding my voice. I thrashed against the tangling braches, desperate to get to her, to save her this time. The Eraser bit down and Kit screamed one last time.

I woke up yelling, thrashing against the clinging branches and lashing out at the arm on my shoulder.

"Hey, watch it!" an annoyed female voice said. I looked round wildly and realised in shock that there were six kids hanging in the trees around me, looking at me in interest, specifically the wings grafted to my back. I drew in my wings with a shudder, furling them neatly and getting ready to run. I had no idea how these kids would react, would they freak out or just chase me away. I wouldn't blame them if they did either.

"You okay?" the girl who had spoken before asked. I looked up fearfully at her where she was balancing deftly on a slim branch. I guessed she was in charge, she looked like she was. I didn't respond. Weren't they supposed to be chasing me with burning torches and pitchforks by now? She glanced over at a little girl who was studying me intently, too intently for a six year old.

"She's frightened," the girl said nonchalantly picking a twig out of the fur of her stuffed bear. The older girl nodded understandingly and slowly edged towards me, apparently unaware of the forty foot drop below her.

"I'm Max," she said softly, as if she was talking to a wild animal. I probably looked like one. "Don't worry you're safe now. The Erasers are gone." I shied away from her, flicking my eyes between each one, trying to keep them all in view and wondering how they knew about Erasers.

There was a tall blond kid on my left, the little girl with piercing eyes and that Max in front of me, a girl my age perched above them, another young kid to my right and I could feel someone's eyes burrowing into my back. I unfurled my wings slightly, feeling trapped. There was an ominous creek from the branches below me and I had just enough time to squeeze my eyes shut before the branches gave way and I fell, plummeting like a rock through the trees.

I opened my wings through shear instinct, catching the air beneath my feathers and gliding towards the ground. I cringed back in fear from this alien part of my mind that was controlling me. _'What have they done to me?'_ I thought for the hundredth time. My wings went limp as I stopped thinking about them and I lost control, dropping the last few feet and landing hard. I yelled in pain and crumpled as I put weight on my injured ankle.

I lay on the ground staring into the sky. The kids looked down at me and then, in unison jumped into the air. I gasped as each one unfurled their own beautiful wings and drifted gently down to land next to me.

"You have wings," I said in disbelief sitting up.

"So do you, join the club," said the one called Max sarcastically. Yeah, like I could ever be as graceful as them. They looked like they'd been flying all their lives, like their wings were part of them. I just had bulky bundles of feathers grown on each shoulder.

"Who are you?" I asked softly, suddenly feeling very small surrounded by these awesome winged kids.

"I'm Max," said Max. "This is Angel." She pointed at the little girl at her side who smiled sweetly and showed the briefest flash of white feathers as an explanation. "That's Iggy and Gazzy," she said pointing out the tall kid who looked at me with strangely unfocused eyes and the smaller kid at his side. "Fang," she gestured to a boy who looked kind'a like a living shadow "And Nudge," she pointed out the final girl who had the look of someone dying to say something. "And you are?"

"Sophie," I said quietly. I was still Sophie, not Fly, never Fly, wings or no wings.

"What happened to the Erasers?" I asked hurriedly, suddenly remembering about them.

"Don't worry, we dealt with them," Max explained gesturing to a small gash on her shoulder.

"Who's Fly?" the little girl, Angel, cut in.

"I'm not Fly," I cried hysterically, feeling the nightmare that had become my life reach out to take me. Again. "I'm Sophie, not Fly. They can call me whatever they want but I am. Not. Fly!" My wings rose around me and I looked at them in horror. _'What have they done to me?'_

"Relax your safe now," Max said in a comforting tone, shooting daggers at Angel.

"Safe. How can I be safe?" I asked still half screaming. "Kit's dead and I have these ugly monstrosities growing on my back."

"Kit's dead," I murmured clasping my head in my hands and fighting the urge to wrap my wings around me. It was the first time I'd said it out loud. I'd never wanted to say it. "She's gone and never coming back," I continued whispering to myself, feeling my eyes burn with tears and not caring, it was all pointless anyway. "We're never going to get home. She promised we'd get home."

"Where's home?" Max asked gently, kneeling down next to me. I pointed somewhere to my left and wondered how I knew. Then I realised, they'd done something to me, messed with my brain, now I was literally bird brained. I broke into fresh sobs of self pity. My wings wrapped themselves around me, a gentle caress that I cringed away from.

"You mean an actual home?" Max asked with a hint of disbelief and maybe envy. "House? Mum? Dad? One point six siblings?"

"No siblings," I murmured back. "Just Kit. But she's gone." I felt fresh tears rise in my eyes. Thinking about home, thinking about my old life; it was too painful.

Max was silent for a moment, obviously torn; she glanced over at Fang who shook his head slightly. I looked up at her with watery eyes wondering what was going on. She sighed in annoyance then said kindly. "Don't worry, we'll get you home." I don't know why but I trusted her. Funny, you wouldn't think I would ever trust anyone again. She held out her arm.

I took it.


	3. Darkness and Pain

Darkness and Pain

Max lifted me to my feet and I hissed in pain as I jarred my injured ankle.

"You okay?" Max asked as I tried to keep my foot off the ground and stay standing.

"My ankle," I explained through clenched teeth. "I think I broke it on the way down."

Max put her arm gently beneath mine and lowered me to the ground. "Hmm," she mused prodding at my bare foot. "Not broken." I winced as she jogged it slightly. "Tender though."

"Just a little."

"Right. Fang get a stick." An improvised crutch later and I was back on my feet.

"Okay then," Max said. "There's a town a few miles away, we can get you cleaned up and get you some proper clothes." She had a point, I looked a mess, my hair had been properly mussed by my trip through the canopy, and the dried blood covering most of my face probably didn't help. Max opened her wings the others following suit and the breath caught in my throat. They were going to fly.

I couldn't fly.

"Wait!" I cried hurriedly before they took off and then glanced down uncomfortably when they all looked at me. "I can't fly," I murmured, embarrassed.

"You were flying okay before," Max pointed out. "Did you hurt your wing or something?"

"No," I said softly, fingering the feather, my feather, in my gown. "I just can't fly."

"Oh, it was the first time you've flown," Max said, her face lighting up with understanding, I don't think she did though. "Don't worry its kind of instinctive." Okay she didn't.

"No that's not it," I said in a choked voice. "I shouldn't be able to fly. I'm Sophie I can't fly. No matter what they did to me I'm still Sophie." I'd been keeping myself alive on that sentence for the last week.

"What did they do to you?" Max asked kindly, patting me on the shoulder comfortingly.

I laughed weakly and spread my wings wide. "This is what they did to me!" I half yelled and half sobbed. "They put these ugly wings on my shoulders and made me a freak!"

"Wait. How long have you had wings?" Max asked confused, apparently not noticing that I'd pretty much called them freaks by association.

"A week," I said bitterly sinking to the floor, ignoring the protests from my ankle, and wrapping my wings around me, then I realised what I was doing and angrily furled them behind my back.

Max's eyes widened in shock when I told her this, but I ignored her. I hunched over and tried to ignore the poison touch of feathers on my back while fighting the urge the wrap myself in my wings. I think I was justified with crying at this point.

"What does this mean Max?" the small boy, Gazzy, asked her.

She paused a moment before answering. "I don't know Gazzy. I don't know."

I carried on sobbing; usually when I got like this Kit would help me, stop my tears, comfort me. But Kit was gone, there was just me left. Me with ugly wings and a bird brain, trapped in the middle of nowhere with no chance of getting home.

Max sat down next to me and put her arm round my shoulder, a supposedly comforting gesture. "Don't cry Sophie," she said softly. "We can walk if you want."

I laughed bitterly but stopped crying. Max smiled gently and I smiled back, or, at least the corners of my mouth twitched.

"Come on," Max said getting to her feet. "Let's get to the town, we can figure out what to do from there."

"Okay," I said meekly, getting up. It couldn't get any worse anyway.

We trudged through the forest in silence, well I hobbled in silence, flying would have been easier but I was not going to fly.

Max and Fang were talking about me. They thought I couldn't hear them but I could.

"This is stupid, you know," Fang said.

"Helping kids is stupid now?" Max answered acidly,

"No; trusting them is though."

"They were going to kill her."

"You sure? She not as injured as she made out. Look she's hardly limping anymore."

I frowned in annoyance; they couldn't be thinking that I was working for the White Coats. I'd never do that, especially after what they did to Kit, to me.

Angel stumbled over a tree root and almost stepped on the small dog, Total, who'd been walking beside her. I have no idea where that dog came from. I'm sure none of them were carrying it. Nudge went to check on Angel, and Max and Fang continued their whispered argument on me and just how dumb it was to walk through a possibly Eraser fill wood. Personally I agreed with them, but I was not going to fly. Never.

Nudge walked alongside me, she was slightly taller than me I noticed without really caring. I wasn't caring much about reality, it seamed to have abandoned me about a month ago anyway.

"So," Nudge started and I had a sudden feeling of doom rushing towards me. "How did you get your wings anyway, you said you only got them, like, a week ago, did they graft them on like the Erasers or something else, like changing your DNA…"

I shut my eyes and tried to block out Nudge's incessant voice. The memories of that dreadful time came rushing into my mind but I forced them out. I didn't want to remember, once was enough. Once was one time too many.

Something hit my mind like a hammer blow and I staggered defences crumbling.

"Wakey wakey," the White Coat said slamming his hand on the roof of my cage. "We've got a special surprise for you today." I cowered back from him, pulling myself into a tight ball in the corner of my cage. I'd been dreaming I'd escaped, I wished I still was. Weird that I had wings in my dream, I'd never dreamed about that before. The White Coat picked up my cage roughly and I banged my head on the roof.

"Ow!" I exclaimed. Kit woke with a start, pulled her black hair out of her eyes and glanced around hurriedly.

She caught sight of me being carried away and yelled. "Hey! Keep your filthy hands off her!"

The White Coat paused and nonchalantly pulled a cattle prod out of his lab coat and poked it through the bars to her cage. Kit's eyes widened as the cattle prod touched her, then her back arched and her head cracked against the bars with a dull ringing sound and she whimpered in pain.

"Don't worry dear," he said to her still form. "You're next."

"Kit," I whispered in horror, she couldn't be dead; I couldn't go on living if she died. "What did you do to her?" I accosted the White Coat.

"The same as what I'm going to do to you if you don't shut up." He tapped the bars of my cage with the cattle prod making them tingle against my spine. I shut up. He took me out of the room. I saw Kit's eyes flicker as we left. Not dead, defiantly not happy though.

The man swung his arm as he carried me through the corridors. Sending me sliding from one end of the cage to the other, completely destroying any chance I had of seeing a way out. Not that I was looking for one, I was more worried where he was taking me.

He opened a door marked Reco- Argh! He shook the cage and I whacked my head on the bars, again. Bastard. The room was filled with dark metal boxes, no, blacked out tanks filled with water. Most of them were closed but there were two left. One for me and one for Kit I realised.

"Number nineteen?" another White Coat asked not looking up from his computer. The nasty White Coat carrying my cage dropped me roughly on the ground and I bit my tongue. The other White Coat rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Thank you Johnson," the he said impassively. "You may go." Johnson left hurriedly, I wanted to join him. There was something deeply intimidating about the White Coat, kind of like a snake. He got up and unlatched my cage, holding the door open and waiting for me to get out. I rushed out as fast as I could. I never wanted to be in a cage again. I never even wanted to see one again. My eyes flicked round the room, one door, no windows and an operating table in the corner.

"I suggest you don't struggle," he said matter-of-factly. "It will only make this harder." I made a dash for the door and got all of half an inch before his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. "They always run," he said shaking his head and delicately removing the cover on short needle one handed. I tried to pull away from him but it was like trying to pull down a wall. He flipped my wrist over; I looked away as the needle went in and clenched my eyes shut. I felt a gentle numbness flow up my arm spiral once around my heart and then burst outwards like a supernova. He caught me as my legs gave way beneath me.

"There, that wasn't so hard was it?" he said smiling. I tried to move but couldn't even lift a finger. He took me over to the operating table and placed me delicately on it. It would have been better if he had knocked me out, at least then I would be unaware. It would be better than this immobility, the helplessness, the fear of what might come next.

"Right, this won't take long," he told me, walking back into my field of vision still smiling. I wanted to run; I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide from this grinning monster but couldn't move. I roared at myself to do something. Nothing happened; I couldn't even open my mouth to scream. He dabbed a cotton pad on my neck and I begged for it to be quick, I couldn't stand it if he took a long time to kill me.

There was a slight feeling of pressure on my neck, the jugular vein if I remembered school properly. I waited to bleed out, too feel life slip from my grasp. It didn't. I was half upset about that, at least it would've meant the nightmare would end.

He picked me up and took me over to one of the tanks and gently lay me in the water which supported me easily. He left me staring at the ceiling, wondering what was going to happen next. There was a furious tapping on a keyboard and then he returned.

"I don't know why they're still trying this combination, it never works" he muttered to himself, pulling a plastic tube from the tank wall and screwing it into the intravenous in my neck.

"See you in two weeks," he said brightly then closed the lid.

I lay there in the darkness, unable to move, unable to think. What did he mean two weeks? And what never works? There was a slight hissing and then I screamed.

I don't think anyone heard me.


	4. Run

Run

_Blink_

My eyes flicked open. Nudge was still talking, "I wonder what having your DNA messed with feels like," she mused. "They did it to me before I was born, you reckon it would tickle?"

_Blink _

I screamed in the darkness. It felt like molten lead was flowing though my veins. The sedative relaxed its gip and I started thrashing, desperately trying to escape the fire creeping through my chest and strangling my heart.

_Blink _

"No," I said softly. "It doesn't tickle."

_Blink _

The flames reached my lungs and my screams cut out. I slammed my fists into the roof of the tank. I felt the inferno ooze lazily up my neck and redoubled my efforts to escape. The lid didn't even budge.

_Blink_

"It burns."

An Eraser stepped out onto the path in front of us and then looked at us in shock. He raised a whistle to his lips and blew hard.

_Blink _

My arms fell limply to my sides as my shoulder muscles blazed.

_Blink _

Max sprang forwards, running at top speed at the Eraser and delivering a flying kick to his neck.

_Blink _

The back of my skull burned. I begged it to stop; I couldn't imagine what it would feel like if it reached my brain. Actually I could, that just made me want it to stop more.

_Blink_

Erasers crashed though the woods. "U and A now!" Max yelled, standing on top of the downed Eraser and unfurling her wings.

'_U and A?' _I though blearily through a haze of memories, completely detached from reality. The flock leapt into the air and pushed down hard with their wings, rocketing into the sky.

_Blink_

The burring reached my brain, a searing kiss of agony, a blinding light in the void.

_Flash _

I started running. One of the Erasers yelled something but I ignored him. I sprinted through the forest. An Eraser burst out of a clump of bushes and I darted left and dodged an outstretched hand. My wings unfurled slightly, offering me a way out. I fought down the urge to fly and ran harder.

A sharp rock tore into my bare foot. I gritted my teeth, ignored it and ran on leaving a trail of blood behind me. My heart pounded in my chest, far too fast but for once I was glad of it. An Eraser ran along side me, a few scraggily bushes separating us, he grinned viciously and I tried to run faster. He made a dive for my legs and I leapt up, keeping my wings in, fighting instinct and kicked down hard at the base of his skull.

I landed and kept running not even bothering to look back, no time to look back. Two Erasers fully morphed and breathing hard through their freaky muzzles where right behind me. I sailed over a fallen log and suddenly darted right. The Erasers skidded in the fallen leaves, almost falling over themselves but kept running gaining ground by the second.

There was a flash of black wings in the corner of my vision and one of the Erasers bellowed in pain as Fang smacked him over the head with a tree branch.

"Down!" Max yelled flying straight at me. I threw myself to the ground as she passed inches above my head and caught the Eraser with her shoulder sending him spinning to the ground. "Sophie fly!" she roared at me, flying back into the canopy, going to fast to land.

I got hurriedly to my feet. There was a bang and the tree next to me thudded as something smashed into it. I looked wildly around and saw an Eraser reloading a long rifle. I swallowed hard and started running. There was another bang and something whistled past my ear. I put down my head and ran faster, not even looking back when I heard a strangled cry of pain.

"Come on Soph, fly!" Max hollered at me, swooping down.

"I can't!" I screamed desperately. Max peeled away as I ran through a clump of trees.

I paused gasping for breath. I couldn't hear anyone chasing me. My eyes caught the barest flicker of movement and I dived to the ground as a rifle roared. Something whizzed over my head closely followed my two more dull thuds as shots imbedded themselves into the ground.

The Erasers rushed towards me and I burst into life, accelerating like a runner out of the blocks, the Erasers hot on my heels. I ducked through a thicket, ignoring the branches lashing at my face and the rocks beneath my feet. My lungs burned as I sprinted out into a small clearing. Suddenly there was an Eraser in front of me, looking in surprise at me and my wings.

Indecision flashed across his face as I tore towards him, not stopping, not slowing down. I dummied left, then dived right and left him standing in the dust. I grinned despite myself. I should be worried that I was partly enjoying this. I turned left, then right, then left again, trying to shake off pursuit. Didn't work, I could hear them a few paces behind me. A dry streambed loomed in front of me and I cleared it in one leap. I heard the footfalls of one of the Erasers stop and I flung myself left as something whistled past me.

I scrambled to my feet as an Eraser locked his hand around my ankle. I kicked back viciously with my free foot and he yelled in pain and let go. I spirited away from them ducking to avoid yet another tree branch. The Erasers caught up easily and ran along side me, trapping me. That seemed familiar, no time to worry about it now though. We burst out into a clearing and one of the Erasers tried to rugby tackle me. I dodged nimbly around him and then gasped as I saw that the clearing was ringed with Erasers, I'd run straight into a trap.

I didn't stop running, my wings opened slightly at my sides, again offering me a way out. The only way out. I took it. My wings snapped open. I felt the air flow gently beneath my feathers, beckoning me to the sky. I speed up, faster than I ever thought I could go, running straight at an Eraser. His eyes widened in shock and he dropped into a combat stance. I jumped into the air, one foot outstretched. I impacted with his skull and leapt from his head catching the air beneath my wings and pushing down with them as hard as I could.

I flew away with tears in my eyes, trying to escape the alien feel of my flight muscles rippling across my chest and the beautiful song of the wind in my wings. It was awful and it was wonderful. Flying free in the sky, no one could catch me, no one could hurt me. The wind whispered in my ears urging me to fly faster, higher, to soar in thermals, to see the ground rush towards me as I dove. To live.

It would have been beautiful.

It wouldn't have been me.

I was Sophie. I couldn't fly. I'd be what they made me, a genetic freak. I'd be Fly. I could never be Fly. I just wanted to be me. Though I wasn't sure who that was anymore.

The flock found me an hour later, a half mile from the town, curled into a ball high in a tree, wrapped in my wings and not caring.


	5. Wings Girl

Wings Girl

"What's wrong with her anyway?" a voice said, Iggy I think, drifting down to reach me in my well of despair.

"I don't think she wants wings," Max answered from somewhere above me.

"Oh," Iggy said simply. "I thought everyone wanted wings."

"Yeah but we don't exactly have a no strings agreement here."

"Hey Max, can I have a cookie?" Nudge asked, cutting in.

"Hate to break it to you but we ate all the cookies."

"What! But we bought like, four packets; we can't have finished them yet."

"Want to bet on that."

"Shouldn't we be helping her?" Iggy asked getting back to the topic on hand

"I don't think we can," Max said sadly. "She'll snap out of it when she's ready, or hungry."

"When are we eating anyway? I'm starving," Nudge wined.

"Soon as Fang and Gazzy get back with the matches," Max explained with a sigh.

"I've got some homemade ones if you want," Iggy offered.

"No offence Ig but we're trying to start a camp fire not forest fire."

They stayed silent for a while after that and I retreated back into my thoughts. I had wings; there was no escaping that short of cutting them off. I was a million miles from home and Kit was dead.

Kit was dead.

I couldn't believe it. It hadn't been long ago that I'd been bugging her to use her computer. But she was gone. She'd been looking out for me since the day I was born but now she was dead. It was as unbelievable as kids with wings. She'd just always been there.

A memory arced through my mind. That had been happening a lot lately.

The tank smelt like death. I had no idea how long I'd been in there. I'd passed out shortly after my brain caught fire, and that shortly had taken way too long. Time had stretched into infinity and then exploded like a burst bubble. I didn't know who I was; I didn't know where I was. But I. Wanted. Out!

The lid cracked open sending painful shards of light slamming into my eyes which I screwed shut.

The White Coat from before gagged as putrid smell flowed from the tank and then said. "Oh great, another failure." I heard him reach down and gently pull the IV from my neck.

Sensation exploded through my body. I knew where I was and I knew that I didn't want to be there. My eyes flicked open and the White Coat looked at me in shock, I could see him in perfect detail, every hair, every pore, the individual muscles moving to open his dropping jaw. My fist rose out of the turgid water, I saw his eyes twitch slightly, then I connected and sent him sprawling.

I practically leapt out of the tank, shaking myself to get the stinking water out of my hair and feathers. _'Wait that's not right.'_ No time to wait though, Dr Viper here was already stirring. I dashed for the door, giving the now empty tanks a wide birth, and flung it open, glancing round the deserted corridor hurriedly. No one there so I started running in the opposite direction to the cage room.

I rounded a corner at top speed and crashed straight into a White Coat, sending him sprawling. His two friends looked at me in horror and reached into their lab coats for their cattle prods. I didn't give them the chance. I opened one wing and flapped it as hard as I could; hitting them across the chests. _'Wing?'_ I thought in confusion. I heard ribs crack and started running again.

I took a left as an alarm started wailing. I could see a window at the end of yet another long corridor and ran faster. A door burst open and one of those weird security guards rushed out, I clipped him with a half open wing and he crashed to the floor. _'Wing. That's not right.'_ my mind protested, I ignored it. I spun round once to avoid falling and then accelerated. If I could just get out I would be safe, I'd be free.

Doors banged open around me and there were hurried footsteps chasing after me, I didn't look round. Twenty feet from the window. There was a growl from behind me and I heard a set of double footfalls behind me, like a dog's. Ten feet. There was a slight 'phut' and something whizzed past my ear, the footfalls came closer. Five feet. I threw myself forwards feeling my wings open slightly, expectantly. I could see the sky through the glass, a glorious blue, I so wanted to be there, to soar free in the sky. _'What am I thinking?' _

My head hit the glass and the window shattered, crystal shards falling like rain around me. Something grabbed my ankle and I was jerked to a stop. I fell, still half through the broken window and screamed as jagged chunks of glass tore into my stomach.

"Not so fast fly girl," a rough voice said as I whimpered in pain.

They pulled me out of the window and took me back to my cage, throwing me in roughly and baring the door after me. I moaned gently and shifted my wing out from under me. _'Wing…'_ My hands shot to my back in horror finally realising what had been wrong. They couldn't have. They can't have.

They had.

I could feel the joint just behind my shoulder, smooth skin blending seamlessly into feathers; I could feel my hand resting on the impossible joint. I gently touched my half open wing, the cage was too small for me to extend it fully, I could feel that too. I tugged on a feather and it hurt. I flapped them slightly, experimentally and accidentally whacked them into the bars. Ow! I ran my hand down length of my wings, numbly feeling the gentle caress of feathers beneath my palm.

"What have they done to me?" I whispered in shock. But I knew.


	6. All Dead

All Dead

I pulled my wings tighter around me and looked sadly at the setting sun. I picked out a single leaf and followed its silhouette as it drifted slowly towards the ground. It must have been at least half a mile away. Another reminder of just how much of a mutant freak I am. I settled back down into my wings and felt fresh tears form in my eyes. I was just crying over the same old problems but crying is usually better than facing reality.

My wings were warm and soft against my wet cheeks. I felt safe there; nestled in my golden feathers. They promised me warmth, safety, security; everything having wings actually denied me. I sighed deeply and went back to staring into space.

"It must have been awful for her," Max said sadly to the others. "Being put in a cage I mean."

"We were put in cages and you don't see us whining about it," Iggy pointed out.

"Yeah, but we were used to it," Max paused as Iggy snorted in disbelief. "Seriously, we've been in cages more than not. But just putting someone in one, that's just wrong."

"What about the Erasers?" Iggy asked.

"I don't think we can count them as people. White Coats too."

I did wonder who these kids were. How did they get wings? It didn't really matter, my gut told me trust them and instinct had been keeping me alive so far, though it had been nagging me to fly.

Fang and Gazzy arrived back in a flurry of wings.

"You took your time," Max said.

"Yeah, it took a while," Fang answered simply.

"That's what I said," Max said exasperated, "Did you get the matches?"

"Yep, they're Itex matches though."

Max climbed down the tree and touched me lightly on the shoulder. "Hey Soph, you want some food." I sighed; Kit had been the only one that called me Soph. Everyone called her Kit, but Soph was my special name. I wished I knew what had happened to her though my dreams were probably a good guess. My stomach growled ferociously reminding me I hadn't eaten in a good ten hours.

"Okay," I said sadly and Max smiled. I smiled back, slightly. The flock leapt out of the tree, flaring their wings just before they landed to avoid breaking bones. I just climbed down the old fashioned way, still clinging uselessly to the idea that I was normal. Max started 'organising' dinner which basically meant that she told everyone what to do and then helped Iggy with starting the fire. I just sat to one side, still lost in my thoughts, but at least I was with other people.

It took me about two minutes to realise that Iggy wasn't actually looking at the fire and a further two to realise that he wasn't actually looking at anything. He was blind, blind and a mutant freak; what a hand. And I'd been so wrapped up in myself that I hadn't noticed.

I went through the meal in silence. Nudge didn't, she chatted to everyone about everything and still managed to eat more in one sitting than most people manage in a day. We all did actually, even me. No one asked me about my time in the lab, I think Max had words with them, and even Nudge gave up asking me questions about my old life after my continuous monosyllabic answers.

We slept in the trees. I guess the correct term is roosted but I am not going to use that word in the same sentence as 'I'. Max was on watch and I couldn't sleep. It was a childish thing but I could never sleep if Kit wasn't there. We used to share a bedroom wall and I could always hear her, just knowing she was there made me feel safer somehow. But now she'd never be there again. I should probably get used to sleeping on my own.

"Can't sleep?" Max asked after about an hour.

"What gave it away?"

"Your eyes are open and you're talking to me, it's a bit of a hint."

"Yeah, suppose it is." I shifted slightly to stop a branch digging into my wing and tried to sleep for like the hundredth time. Not a chance. I wondered if I should fly a bit to burn off some energy then realised what I was doing and shut that thought down hard.

After a few more minutes of silence Max asked, "So, what did they do to you?"

I felt my throat tighten, painful memories flittered through my mind; I was getting used to that though. "They kidnapped us," I said softly. "Put us in cages and then they put wings on my back."

"Us?"

"Me and Kit," I explained. "Kit was my sister, they killed her."

"Oh," Max said simply. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. You've saved me enough times today anyway."

"That's me, Maximum Ride, saving the world, one bird kid at a time," she said cheerfully, doing a little bow. I smiled weakly then realised she'd called me a bird kid. But that was what I was, wasn't it. That's why they were trying to kill me.

"How'd they get you?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"It was before we were born. I always thought how weird it would be not to have wings actually. Flying's new though, they didn't let us fly before…" she sighed. "Well, before we got out."

There were a few more minutes of silence. In case you hadn't noticed I'm not a big talker. Then Max asked. "How did they put wings on you?"

I shuddered, remembering the tank, and the pain. "They put me in a tank," I explained softly. "Then they injected me with something and when I woke up I had grown wings." Max's looked surprised, it was pretty unbelievable actually. I don't know what she was expecting to hear though.

"Guess it beats waiting around for your mutants to grow up," Max said half-heartedly, trying to put a brave face on things. It was like trying to mask an Eraser though; you could still see it was a monster underneath.

"Not really," I said sadly. "Me and Kit were the only ones to last out the week."

"And how many were you?" Max asked softly, half dreading the answer.

"Twenty," I said feeling tears cloud my eyes. "There were twenty of us. They killed all of them."


	7. Shot Down

Shot Down

I sobbed gently into my new wings, curled up on the cold floor of my cage. Surrounding me were the wails of pain from dying kids, their own horribly changed bodies slowly killing them. I was half glad when one finally fell silent, half envious too.

What was worse, I didn't hurt. Surrounded by pain and suffering, I felt fine, great even; my torn stomach had stopped bleeding. I hurt inside though, a gnawing emptiness that threatened to consume me. _'What have they done to me? What have they done to me?'_ kept swirling around my head. The answer was obvious to anyone with eyes; they'd made me a freak, a genetic monstrosity and it was probably going to kill me. On balance the question was easier to deal with.

The White Coats dumped a monster into the cage next to me. I took one look and cowered away. It regarded me with its amber eyes and showed its pointed fangs.

"Nice wings Soph," Kit said grinning through her sharp teeth.

"Kit?" I asked in disbelief.

"In the flesh," she said still grinning, I probably did look ridiculous. She glanced down at her arm which was sheathed in orange fur and occasionally streaked with a black stripe. "Well, in the fur at least," she amended.

"What did they do to you?" I asked still shocked.

"Made me a Kit-cat apparently," she said in an offhand way sheathing and unsheathing her claws beneath her fingernails. I knew her too well to be fooled though. I could tell how distraught she was. But she was staying strong, for me. I don't know if I could have done that. She looked up at me and furrowed her brow. "Do you know your hair's blond?"

"Do you know you're orange?" I shot back, snatching a strand of hair and examining it closely; definitely blond. Same tawny yellow as my wings actually. I probably would have noticed earlier but the world was crashing down around my head, had been for a while actually.

"Yeah I'd noticed," Kit said sarcastically. She glanced at my nightgown which was bloody and torn around my stomach. "Did they do that?" she asked angrily, her eyes gleaming in the half light.

"Kind of," I explained sheepishly, didn't think Kit could look any fiercer than when angry, but her getting crossed with a tiger managed it. "I was jumping through a window when one of those guards grabbed me."

"I'll kill them," she said grimly, unsheathing her claws and flicking her tail. A White Coat walked past and we fell silent. He glanced once at us and then did a double take. He looked at me and I met his gaze coldly, my eyes still puffy from crying. Then he looked at Kit who growled; a bloodcurdling rumble at the back of her throat. The White Coat dashed off, I don't think he was frightened though.

"What was that about?" I asked Kit.

"Search me," Kit said shrugging her shoulders. One of the other kids screamed once, horribly and then fell silent.

Reality flickered.

I glanced around to see which one it had been but the cages were empty. "What the…" I looked back at Kit who was lying on her side a bloody wound in her side. "Kit what happened?" I screamed in terror.

"They're coming Sophie," she said smiling slightly, showing blooded fangs. "Get ready to fly."

"I can't fly," I whimpered watching the light fade from her eyes.

"Then you'll die."

I woke with a start, far below in the darkness around the base of the tree a twig snapped.

"Someone's here," Iggy said just loud enough to be heard. The flock were all immediately awake and alert. I think they were all used to waking suddenly.

"Get ready to fly," Max told everyone quietly. The flock unfurled their wings slightly.

'_I can't fly. Not again,'_ I thought desperately.

'_Then you die,' _a voice in the corner of my mind said simply. I think it was mine. We squinted into the darkness below, straining to hear if someone was there.

Nothing.

Three floodlights flicked on, dazzling us. Did I say nothing? As soon as the spots cleared from my eyes I looked down and gasped, there were at least twenty Erasers below us, all with guns, all of them trained on us.

"Maximum Ride," a tinny voice boomed out of a megaphone held by a lone White Coat, the threatening one from the tank room. "You have something of ours. Hand it over and you may leave unharmed."

"She has a name you know!" Max yelled back quick as a flash.

"Very well, give us Fly and you won't be harmed."

"I'm not Fly!" I shouted indignantly, all the Erasers trained their rifles on me. Damn it!

"U and A on count of three," Max said evenly, loud enough for the Erasers on the ground to hear. I gulped, I knew what U and A meant, but I wasn't sure I could fly. I looked down again at the Erasers and the maws of their guns. Better to die on the wing than shot in a tree I guess. Actually better not to die at all.

"This is you're last chance Maximum," the White Coat. "Surrender the girl."

"We'll never let them get you Sophie," Max whispered to me then she said calmly. "One."

The flock exploded into life, leaping from the tree flinging their wings wide and rocketing into the sky. The Erasers caught by surprise fired wildly, shots whizzed past the flock, but they were nowhere near. I stood there for an uncomprehending moment. Did I miss two numbers somewhere? Then something whizzed past my face and I started running, taking three steps along a branch I sure would never have supported my weight, opened my wings wide and leapt into the sky.

The air slid smoothly over my golden feathers and I pushed down hard with my wings sending me soaring into the sky and rocketing through the cool night air. It was incredible, wonderful, heavenly even. I lifted my wings, kinking them instinctively at the elbow so they would cut through the air more easily. I looked down at the Erasers who were desperately reloading and then realised in horror that the White Coat was raising his own rifle.

There was nothing I could do. There was no time. It was just going to end with me falling from the sky, dead as a dodo. _'Just as I was beginning to enjoy flying as well,'_ I thought sadly as he raised the stock to his shoulder and my wings reached their apex. He squinted through the sight and I could see his eye hugely magnified. His finger tightened on the trigger and the gun roared.

Something hit my wing, a sharp pain that immediately faded into nothingness, not what I expected from a bullet at all. I tried to move my wings but it was like moving them through water, (that would be hard right?) I didn't know why that was a problem though as my brain seamed to have gone to sleep. Actually sleep was seaming very appealing. I closed my eyes, ignoring the sinking feeling in my stomach as I lost altitude.

'_Just a little nap,' _I thought blearily, plummeting towards the tree tops. _'What harm could it do?'_


	8. Duck, Hunting

Duck, Hunting 

I rolled over and threw up. I felt like death. A blinding pain shot through my wing as I jogged it slightly and I stifled a scream. Okay not dead; could fell pain; lots and lots of pain. I very slowly moved my head to look at my right wing, and then had to look away. Limbs should not bend like that.

What on earth had happened? I tried to think back, not helped by various other injuries reporting in, now my wing had had its say. My head pounded, I'd probably hit it on the way down, I'd probably hit most things on the way down. Let's see… I'd been, flying, (never going to get used to saying that), and then there'd been… Erasers. I screwed my eyes shut to block out my headache. It didn't work. And then I'd been. Shot!

I sat bolt upright and then gasped as I moved my injured wing. I looked over at my other wing, ignoring the feeling of bones grating. There wasn't a gaping bullet wound, which is what I had been dreading, but there was-

"Oh no," I said softly and pulled the empty tranquiliser dart out of my wing. _'How long have I been out?'_ I looked round. Not yet dawn; I wished I had a watch; I wished I was home. I heard the crunch of approaching foot steps and froze. A torch beam swung inches above my head and I dived to the ground, gritting my teeth as my wing screamed in protest.

I crawled into the hollow at the base of a tree and curled up as small as I could, not easy as I could barely move my wing. A troop of Erasers crashed through the forest, swinging their flashlights widely around, squinting at shadows and craning their necks to look up into the trees. I squeezed further into my little patch of darkness and folded my wing across my chest, careful not to jar the break halfway down my forearm. The Erasers stomped past, totally unable to see me hiding right under their noses.

I let out a slow breath of relief and then jumped out of my skin as an Eraser placed his heavy booted foot right next to my head. I looked up very slowly, expecting the worse. The Eraser, not looking at me, muttered something I'm not going to repeat here and fumbled with a cigarette packet. I tried desperately not to make a sound, as long as he didn't notice me I'd be fine. Or at least not about to be shot.

The Eraser attempted to light his cigarette while still holding the packet (no one ever said Erasers were bright). The torch flicked wildly across the ground, nerve wrackingly close to where I was hiding. There was a faint glint as the light played over a golden feather, one of my feathers, and I stopped breathing. Again.

'_Please have missed it,'_ I begged silently. _'Please please please! Say he missed it.' _The light swung back slowly, purposefully and illuminated a single dropped feather, lying discarded on the forest floor.

'_This is it Soph,'_ I thought. _'Get ready to fly.'_

'_I can't fly,' _I though back. _'Not with a broken wing.'_ The Eraser looked up into the canopy, probably thinking I was stuck in a tree.

'_You'll have to fight then,' _I thought at my self matter-of-factly. And I agreed.

The Eraser swung the flashlight from the ground and into the trees and I leapt up, catching him with a rising blow right on the chin. His head snapped back and he let out a startled cry. I kicked out wildly and hit him somewhere in the stomach, making him double over, gasping for breath. I saw a distant flicker of approaching lights and started running, my wing throbbing with every step, leaving the Eraser panting for breath and disappeared into the forest.

About ten minutes later I was crouching in my third muddy ditch and listening to the sound of heavy Eraser footfalls fading into the night. I got up and shook off the worst of the mud from my feet. I had originally been heading north but the Erasers were always there, waiting, watching. Hunting. I was sure there must have been hundreds of them but there were probably only the original twenty.

Two Erasers crashed through the undergrowth towards me and I dived into the shadows beneath a bush, a holly bush. They passed by without noticing me but it was a close run thing. I got up slowly and picked a sharp leaf out of my hair, ignoring the scratches on my arms and headed off in the opposite direction to the Erasers. Not that that had worked so far.

After a few moments I saw a flicker of movement and froze, straining to hear if Erasers were coming again.

A voice drifted through the silence. "Yes I know how important they are but I can assure you…" I frowned, that was that White Coat, but who was he talking to? I crept closer, a uniquely bad decision.

"No we haven't caught her yet but…" he cut off again. I peaked round a tree and saw him talking on a mobile and pacing beneath the tree we had roosted in. He walked past one of the now off floodlights. There was a gun leaning against it.

"I understand," he continued. "But we shot her with a tranquiliser; she should be out for another two hours." I paused and then ducked back behind the tree as he turned around. That couldn't be right. I had defiantly been hit with the whole dart. Maybe bird kids have a faster metabolism or something. He turned away from me and I made my move.

"Yes, of course," he said irritably. "I'll call you the moment we get her." He closed the phone muttering something and I pressed the gun into the small of his back.

"Drop it," I said quietly, hopefully threateningly though I probably sounded more scared than scary. He obliged, dropping the phone and raising his hands over his head.

"Fly, I presume," he observed, talking slowly and deliberately. "Up and kicking then."

"Not Fly," I said softy, not entirely believing it. I would have never done something like this before they took me. He tried to turn slightly and I jabbed him with the barrel of the gun. If he turned he would see I was holding the gun completely wrong, though you should try holding a gun to your shoulder when your wing's in the way. Actually I was holding it at my hip but that doesn't really matter.

"Of course not," he said smoothly, placatingly. He tried to look over his shoulder and I prodded him again, hard. "You can fly though."

"Shut up," I muttered darkly, digging the gun into his back.

"It's a wonderful gift," he continued ignoring my snort of disbelief. "Man has been dreaming of flying for millennia."

"Yeah, it was a real good gift for the other kids," I shot back angrily and shuddered, remembering some of the other kids who'd got wings, not all of them had got feathers, and those were the lucky ones, some didn't even get hearts.

"A small sacrifice." My finger tightened on the trigger. "But you are something truly amazing."

"I'm not amazing," I said sadly. "I'm just Sophie."

"The wings say otherwise," he pointed out glancing over his shoulder. I jabbed him again. "Don't they, Fly?"

"I'm not Fly," I growled.

"Of course you are."

"Shut up."

"How could you be anything else?"

"Shut up."

"What with the wings."

"Shut. Up."

"How could you be anything else?"

"Shut up! Or will I shoot you," I roared, he was far to close to the mark, Sophie would never have done this. "I swear I will shoot you."

"I don't think you will," he said simply. "For a start that gun's not loaded." I had less than half a second to consider this before he spun, knocking the gun out of my hands and onto the floor. A swift punch to the head sent me reeling back, seeing stars.

He pulled a syringe out of his pocket. "Sweet dreams. Fly," he said with a vicious smile, taking the plastic cover off the long needle. I opened my right wing hard and caught him right across the chest. Bones cracked and he fell to the floor, probably in agony, I hope he was. Actually I should be in agony. I flexed my wing and gave it an experimental flap. It felt fine, but I had definitely broken it. Weird.

I heard the Erasers smashing through the forest and spun right round to see which way they were coming from. Every way, as it turned out. The White Coat groaned and I kicked him in the ribs, he gasped in pain. I started running, folding in my wing and leaping into the trees. He probably deserved it anyway.

I scrambled up the tree, freezing every time an Eraser past below. It wouldn't do to been seen, I might get shot; I wasn't going to let that happen again. Above the canopy it was just getting light. A faint breeze ruffled my hair and found its way under my feathers. I opened my wings and looked up into the clear blue sky. Six shapes circled high above and I waved jauntily. I leapt into the air and, no matter how I may rationalise it as being the safest option, I was flying because I wanted to. It felt right. And that scared me.

It scared me a lot.

What had they done to me?


	9. Bird to The Bone

Bird to the Bone

I soared into the sky, my wings settling into a half familiar rhythm of their own accord. Lift them as high as they would go; push down hard, tilt them slightly to get the best angle of attack, then coast for a moment before repeating. It was easy, simple, instinctive and totally amazing. I was born to do this, the knowledge etched onto my brain, instinct ingrained into my marrow. I was born to… no. I was born to f… No. Born to fl… No!

No, that wasn't right. I wasn't born to fly. I was born Sophie. I would always be Sophie. No matter what they did to me, I'd always be me. My wings beat either side of me, and I flinched away from them, resisting the urge to fold them out of sight. That really wouldn't have been smart.

The flock swooped down towards me, my new vision hugely magnifying them so they might have been a dozen yards away not half a mile. It wasn't me. My wings beat again, the muscles tightening across my chest. Wasn't me. I spread my wings wide to catch a thermal without thinking. Wasn't me. The wind slid gently across my feathers. Wasn't me. I wanted to soar. Wasn't me. None of it was me! It was all alien, even my hair was different. I wasn't me. I was what they made me.

I was Fly.

"What have they done to me?" I said weakly as the flock arrived, swooping into a rough circle around me.

The world shattered.

They'd given me wings. It always came back to that. I could feel them pressing against the bars of my cage. I shouldn't have been able to feel anything with them. They weren't mine. I don't have wings. Or should that be I didn't have wings. I touched my wing for the hundredth time. Maybe this time it wouldn't be there.

I traced the joint again, searching for a join, a seam, a stitch, anything! Anything that would prove that these wings weren't mine. Couldn't possibly be mine. Had just been tacked on and could be easily removed. I didn't think about where the wings would have come from, I don't know of any birds with near on an eleven foot wingspan. There wasn't a join though. The wings grew just as smoothly from my shoulder as my arms and were just as inclined to come off. I know, I tried. Maybe if I had a mirror I'd be able to see properly, prove that the wings weren't mine, but that was probably a bad idea. After this long in a cage, dirty and haggard would be the kind description. Besides it could prove the wings were mine, I'm not to sure what I'd do then.

I sighed deeply and wished they'd bring Kit back, at least then I could talk to someone, even if the White Coats did zap you when you started talking. There was a small whimper from one of the few remaining experiments, a girl who couldn't be more than seven. She started shuddering convulsively in her sleep, her butterfly wings fluttering, tearing like tissue paper when they caught on the bars of her cage. She wouldn't last long, none of them had. _'At least the noisy ones are gone'_ I thought and then hated myself for it.

I wanted to cry again, but I think I was all cried out. What I really wanted to do was wrap my wings around me and hide from the world. But I couldn't do that. I didn't have wings. Could never have wings. Maybe I thought if I ignored them they would go away. That worked about as well as my plan to wake up in my own bed by pinching myself.

I glanced around the room to take my mind off myself. Not much to see, the walls were a bare white without a window in sight and reflected the glare of the florescent lights into my eyes wherever I looked. Other than that the only other thing to look at was the cages, which I really didn't want to do. If Hell were a place, it would be here. Even the air was poisoned by the stink of antiseptic. Funny that it's where the kids with wings are.

I cracked and looked at the other experiments. There were only three left, most having died during the night, I could still hear their death rattles echoing around my mind. The White Coats had cleared them quietly away, replacing their cages a few hours later freshly cleaned, awaiting the next victim. I don't know how they could be that inhuman. I don't know what happened to the bodies. I can imagine though.

There was another winged kid in the cage opposite mine. He lay curled on his side, wings tight against his back, staring into space. He'd been like that since they returned him, every so often one of the White Coats would check he was still breathing, and were always surprised when they found he was. I'd stopped trying to talk to him a while ago. I might as well have been trying to talk to the wall. I hoped that wouldn't happen to me. Maybe having wings wipes your mind somehow. I half envied him though. He had at least escaped the nightmare. But I could still remember him before they winged him, babbling about his sixth birthday coming up. But now he was just still. As good as dead.

The butterfly girl stopped fluttering and collapsed on the floor of her cage, breathing raggedly, her tattered wings spasmed occasionally behind her back. _'Not long now,'_ I thought impassively. Staying separate was the only way I could stay sane. Not sure I managed it.

There was the steady clomp of approaching footsteps and I shivered. They were coming for me; they didn't come for the others, just me and Kit. They'd already taken blood and done x-rays what else did they want? I didn't want them to touch me. They were the bastards that did this to me. I was going to fight them, again. Kit would, Kit wouldn't let them win.

Two shapes loomed in front of my cage and I cowered back pulling my wings around me. I always do that. Always. No matter what I plan I always cower. Too frightened to move.

"Sophie," Max said.

The door to my cage opened and I pulled myself into a tighter ball.

"Sophie," Max said more urgently.

Hands reached into my cage and grabbed my wrist.

"Sophie!" Max yelled.

I lashed out and my foot connected with a cattle prod sending several thousand volts up my leg.

"Sophie, snap out of it!"

I opened my eyes and panicked briefly when I saw the world stretching out beneath me. My wings moved powerfully beside me, keeping me aloft. My wings. I was flying. I couldn't be flying. I shouldn't even be able to get off the ground. But I could. They'd even changed my bones. Max swooped into step next to me and tapped me on the shoulder with a wing tip, probably as close as you can get to grabbing someone by the shoulders and shaking them when you're flying.

"Soph, what's wrong? What happened down there?" she demanded. I drew a deep shuddery breath that should have been calming. Actually I should've been breathless after a few flaps but I was fine. More things that weren't me.

"They made me a freak," I whispered to myself, not caring what they read into that. "They took my life. They stole me!" I looked up at Max with tears in my eyes. My wings beat instinctively, a symbol of everything I lost and I had lost everything.

"I can't fly," I told Max desperately, she looked at me in confusion. "I can't fly and be me. I just, can't."

"Sophie calm down, you're not making any sense. What happened?"

"I'm flying," I said to myself, detaching from reality once more. "I'm not me." I looked down at the earth and tried to ignore the fact I could see it far better than I should be able to. "I'm someone else. I'm Fly."

I looked back up at Max. "I can never be Fly," I explained.

I closed my eyes, folded my wings and plummeted towards the earth. I was never going to open my wings again. Ever.


	10. If You Should Fall

If You Should Fall

I was free. In freefall.

The White Coats would never be able to hurt me again, no one would. I was free.

There was a yell of surprise from above me and Angel cried. "Stop her!" I looked up to see the flock diving after me. Trying to save me. But I didn't want to be saved. I looked down at the ground rushing to meet me. It was probably going to hurt, a lot. Best to get it over quickly. I pivoted in mid air to fall head first. One quick crack and it would all be over; all the hurt would be gone. I'd be free.

The wind roared in my ears, drowning out all other noise. My eyes should have been watering but they were still clear and showing the earth approaching at a dangerous speed.

"_Open your wings,"_ a voice whispered in the back of my mind and my wings twitched in response. I forced them shut, knotting my hands behind my back to prevent them opening. I was never going to open my wings again.

I don't have wings.

The roar faded into a faint buzz at the back of my mind and I smiled despite myself. It was so peaceful. If I closed my eyes I could imagine I was anywhere, floating forever on an azure sea for instance. I closed my eyes and was immediately back in the tank, molten death flowing through my veins. I wrenched my eyes open; I couldn't go through that again, twice was enough.

"_Open your wings,"_ the voice whispered again, more forcefully this time. My wings strained to open but I held them firm against my back. I was never going to open them again.

The treetops swayed slightly in the early morning breeze, seemingly beckoning me towards them. Well I couldn't go any faster.

"_Open your wings,"_ the voice commanded and I moved to obey. Opening my wings slightly and then slamming back against my back. I didn't have wings.

"_Open them!" _the voice yelled as the treetops rushed towards me.

"Sophie, open your damn wings!" Max yelled, screaming towards me.

I looked up at her and shook my head solemnly. "No," I said simply and turned to face the trees once more. Not long now. Couple of seconds at best. This was going to hurt so much.

"_Open. Your. Wings."_ the voice ordered. Why did I recognise it from somewhere?

"_I don't have wings," _I thought back ramming my wings against my sides and counting the seconds to impact in my head. Three. Two. One…

Max grabbed me and flared her wings pulling up and fast as she could. We skimmed the treetops with inches to spare and Max swerved suddenly to avoid hitting a tree that loomed above the others.

"Let go of me!" I cried hysterically, struggling against her iron grip. She didn't budge.

"Not a chance Soph," she yelled, flapping hard to remain airborne. "What the hell were you doing?"

I fell limp in her arms, I couldn't get away. I'd only break bones from this height anyway. "I just want it to end," I said softly, tears in my eyes. "I can't go on anymore. I just… can't" I started crying, teardrops falling to earth far below.

"It's okay Sophie," Max said soothingly. "It'll be alright." I wished I could believe that. "Let's find a place to land."

We landed in a small clearing right next to the town and I collapsed on the ground crying. I just wanted to escape. Just get away from the White Coats and the Erasers, and the wings on my back. Away from this nightmare that had become my life. Just curl up in bed and listen to the gentle sounds of my family surrounding me, Dad dozing in front of the TV, Mum pottering around the house, Kit listening to her stereo too loud, not that that was likely to happen again. None of it was likely to happen again actually.

I got halfway through wrapping myself in my wings before I realised what I was doing and then furled them angrily behind my back. The flock looked down at me concernedly. They could cope. Yeah, well they weren't me; I'm not sure I'm me actually. I shied away from them, hunching up next to a tree. I'd been hunched up so much lately it's actually beginning to make me feel safe.

"Sophie?" Max asked tentatively.

"Leave me alone," I whined pathetically, still fighting to keep my wings pressed against my back. It just felt so, comforting. It shouldn't be any more than draping a blanket round my shoulders but it was. Instinct I guess, the White Coats literally messing with my mind. But then again, would it really be so bad? I'd wrapped my wings around me before and hadn't lost myself. I hadn't I?

I just wanted to go home. I wanted to fly away and never stop too. Maybe I had lost myself. That wasn't one of Sophie's thoughts. Or maybe it was, it was getting hard to tell. Max put her hand comfortingly on my shoulder and I shrugged it off, feeling my wing slide smoothly across my back.

"Sophie," she began but I cut her off.

"I just want to be alone," I explained, not looking up. "Just alone."

The world started to dissolve and I recognised the onset of yet another flashback. I screwed my eyes shut to try and fight it off and opened them walking through my front gate.

Home.

"Come on Soph, we'll be late!" called Kit, already fifty yards down the road and still with her school bag over one shoulder. I hurried to catch up, wondering why I was so happy about walking through my own gate.

"Do you reckon we should cut through the woods?" Kit asked when I had caught up. I realised with a sinking feeling what I was remembering. _"Go through the woods," _I begged silently but I wasn't in control.

"No, I want to meet with Jenny," I said, totally oblivious to my silent pleas. Why should I be, it had already happened.

Reality jumped. We were walking down the road, the path into the woods fading into the distance behind us. I was vaguely aware that I had been chatting to Kit but I don't remember what we were talking about. There was the roar of an engine behind us, I didn't even look round. Kit did. It didn't help though.

A black van squealed to a stop next to us. I begged myself to start running but I just looked at it curiously. A blacked out window rolled down but it was too shadowy to see who was in there.

"Can I help you?" Kit asked stiffly. She was at least suspicious, not like me. The rear doors of the van burst open and five guys in black suits rushed out. Kit whirled and was cracked over the head by another man getting out of the drivers seat. She crumpled, falling to the floor with a sickening thud.

I took a half step towards her when I really should have been running and whispered, "Kit." One of the men loomed over me, grinning viciously. I started running. Far too late. Something slammed into the back of my head and I collapsed, falling into blackness.

Wait. I remember nothing but darkness. So why could I see Angel?

I wrenched my eyes open, snapping back to reality to hear Max sigh, and sought out Angel. What had she been doing in my head? More importantly how was she in my head? Angel looked at me sheepishly, she knew I knew. But that was impossible, wasn't it? Actually I'm not sure impossible is a good word for anything right now.

"_Sorry Sophie," _a voice whispered in the back of my mind. Angel's. I wonder why I didn't realise that before. _"You're going to have to forget though."_

"_What?" _I thought back.

Angel smiled. "Forget," she mouthed. I looked at her confused, actually why was I looking at her? Max was the one that was talking.

"We just want to help," Max said squatting down next to me.

"I need to be alone," I said again, barely above a whisper.

"Okay." Max stood up with another sigh. "Let's go get some food," she said to the assembled kids who brightened a bit. So I was dampening the mood. I think I'm justified.

"Sure you don't want to come? Max asked me as they started to leave the clearing.

"Yes," I murmured, not looking at her, just staring at my knees.

"Okay." They left, leaving me alone.

I played with the feather attached to my gown. I'm quite amazed that it's still hanging in there, a lot has happened since I escaped. At any other time I would have considered it beautiful; I would have put it in one of those nature scrapbooks of pretty stuff you find in the forest because I'm sappy like that. But it was my feather, I'd grown it. It was long, yellow, hideous, human feather.

I went to throw it away in disgust and started, seeing Fang sitting opposite me regarding me impassively. I thought they'd all gone.

"I stayed to make sure you're alright," he explained. Just before I asked why he was there. I wonder if he can read minds too. "_Too?"_

"You mean so I don't kill myself," I shot back. He just shrugged, as if saying 'have it you're way'.

"I'm not going to kill myself," I exclaimed angrily, really annoyed by him being so nonchalant.

"You could have fooled me," he said calmly. Were we even talking about the same thing, how could he be so serene?

"That was different," I muttered, suppressing the urge to wrap my wings around me. He just raised an eyebrow at me. Translation: "how so?"

"It just is." The silence stretched out between us. I felt the need to fill it.

"Because when I'm in the air," I began slowly. "Flying. I can feel it taking over me. Something that wants me to fly. It just takes over and I can't even tell the difference. Do you understand?" I rushed that last part. He had to understand, he had wings, he could help.

Fang shook his head. "Sorry, I don't."

I looked back down, staring dejectedly at my knees. Of course he couldn't, that would just be too easy, I was losing myself and I couldn't do a thing to stop it.

"I can't lose myself," I whispered, fully aware that actually, I was talking to myself. "It's all I have left."

"How do you cope?" I asked suddenly. "All there is Erasers, running and sick scientists. How do you cope?"

Fang appeared to consider this, though you'd need a microscope to see his expression change. "I'm alive," he said after a moments pause. "I'm free. I have M… my flock. That's all I really need. Everything else may be nice but I don't need it." I didn't know how to respond to that. He was in exactly the same situation and he wasn't moping. The silence stretched between us. Again.

"Most people would give everything to fly," Fang said conversationally, breaking the silence. I just looked at him, I had been given everything and it wasn't worth it. Fang changed tack. "Just because you have wings doesn't mean you aren't human," he pointed out.

"I'm not though," I replied softly. "It wasn't just the wings; they changed everything, my bones, my eyes, my brain, even my hair. They made me Fly, I'm barely me anymore."

"If you're enough yourself to think that you're losing your mind then you haven't," Fang said after a moment. "The White Coats can do whatever they like but they can't change who you are. The only way you're going to lose yourself is by giving up. You're still you."

"No, I'm not," I said sadly. "I have wings and Sophie doesn't have wings. I can't be Sophie and fly. And if I'm not Sophie then I can't be anything but Fly."

"Why can't you be you and fly?" Fang asked.

"Sophie doesn't have wings."

"You are Sophie and you have wings. What is it scares you so much about flying?"

"I'll lose myself."

"You don't know that."

"I do. It took over and wanted me to fly."

"Maybe you just enjoyed it."

"I can't fly."

"You can, and you fly very well."

"Sophie can't fly."

"You are Sophie and you can fly. You won't lose yourself."

"I will."

"You won't. You may even like it."

"It'll destroy me."

"It won't. The only person that can do that is you."

"I…" I began but stopped. I had been hadn't I? Destroying myself. I'm not Sophie, and I haven't been for nearly a month now. It's probably time to face that, I can't fight it anyway, and it hurts too much to still think of myself as a normal girl when I'm so obviously not. I'm not their lab rat though. I'm not Fly. They gave me wings, but they're mine now. I'm still me. Still Sophie. Feathers and all.

It took me long enough to realise that didn't it?

My head whipped round as I heard something crashing through the woods towards us. Fang leapt to his feet eyeing the surrounding trees looking faintly anxious, which I'm taking to mean really, really worried.

"Just promise me one thing Sophie," he said as the crashing drew nearer.

"Yeah," I said softly getting to my feet.

"Don't give up."


	11. Wolf in the Woods

Wolf in the Woods

Max burst into the clearing, the rest of the flock close behind her.

"Fang!" she yelled. "Angel says there are Erasers…"

"Everywhere," a voice completed.

Erasers melted out of the trees to stand in a ring around us, Max and Fang spun in unison to face the Eraser who had spoken.

"Ari," Max said with venom in her voice. "Long time no see."

"It's been three days and you know it!" he barked back. I looked at him half in horror half in shock. He looked wrong. All the Erasers look weird, there's a feral hint in their eyes, their walk, their voice that grates but he looked, wrong. Like he was already slightly morphed, but even then that would explain the slightly stretched features.

He caught me looking and glowered at me. I fidgeted under his gaze, resisting the urge to stretch my wings and fly, that would have scared me but Ari scared me more. His gaze flickered to the feather clutched in my fist.

"Taking in strays," he growled at Max.

"Yeah," Max shot back. "It's a little thing called caring. You may need to look it up."

"Like you ever cared," Ari muttered, shooting me another hate filled glance.

"I might care if you stopped trying to kill us," Max said acidly.

"I'd almost forgotten about that," Ari said, trying and failing to sound offhand. "Now." He nodded at the Erasers and then charged at Max who nimbly sidestepped and thwacked him as he went past. Fang and the rest of the flock spun to face the Erasers sneaking up behind us…

Oh dear.

An Eraser grabbed me around the chest pinning my arms to my sides and lifting me off the ground. The breath rushed out of me and I opened my wings without thinking; unfurling them fast enough to break bones, human bones that is. I only just broke the Erasers grip. I hit the ground and whirled, bowling over the Eraser with my wing. Another Eraser grabbed my wing tip and I flapped it hard to shake him off and almost fell over. The first Eraser seized my ankle, his claws digging into my leg, I hissed in pain and went to kick him off but another locked his arm around my other wing. I elbowed him hard and fell as the other Eraser pulled my leg out from under me, hitting the ground with a thud.

An Eraser loomed over me and I pushed back with my wings, catching a downed Eraser on the head and launching myself to my feet. I ducked as the Eraser aimed a punch at my head and shook my wings to dislodge another Eraser clinging to them. How many were there? I snatched a quick glance round and I thought I caught a glimpse of Max and Ari but I was blocked by a solid wall of Erasers, I couldn't see the others, just Erasers.

I dodged out of the way of another blow and stifled a scream as an Eraser claw raked a chunk out of my wing. Another grabbed my other wing; I caught a glancing blow on my head and tried to shake off the Eraser as another two clutched at my other wing.

They were everywhere, I couldn't get away. I drew my wings in sharply, hissing in pain and spread them wide leaping into the air and pushing down hard. An Eraser grasped at my foot, pulling me back down, but I kicked him off and pumped my wings to stay airborne. I could see the rest of the flock fighting, flailing figures in a sea of Erasers, but they were holding their own, even Angel.

I gained altitude, soaring into the sky. It was amazing, I didn't even have to think about moving my wings, probably better that I don't. I don't know when I decided to fly, I just did, it felt right, bird instinct taking over my… No. This is me now. Nothing's going to change it. Face it Sophie!

A gun roared and something lanced through my shoulder. I screamed in pain and my hand flung to my shoulder, it came away sticky and red. They'd shot me, I couldn't believe it, they'd actually hit me. I dropped a few feet as I stopped flapping and pushed down hard with my wings. My right wing didn't move, actually I couldn't feel my right side at all. Blood trickled down my side soaking my nightgown and I began to fall, spiralling towards the ground, straining with my one good wing to stay airborne.

"_This would be an excellent time to pass out," _I observed numbly as the ground rushed towards me. Most of it was covered in Erasers. No such luck. I hit hard, landing on my injured shoulder, something cracked, I'm not sure what, my scream of agony kind of covered it up.

Something loomed over me, I couldn't see who, the sky was suddenly very bright for some reason.

"Well what do we have here?" Ari growled. I really wished I still couldn't feel my shoulder, it felt like the tank all over again.

Ari stepped on my shoulder and I screamed in pain. "Now I think I have something to bargain wi…" he began. A shot whistled over his shoulder and he snarled his head whipping round.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" a voice yelled angrily. Maybe the White Coat from the tank room, I'm not sure, my brain was a little fuzzy. "Get away from her you idiot."

Ari blessedly took his boot from my shoulder. "And who the hell are you?" he shot back, prowling out of my line of sight.

Max crouched down next to me, the fight seemed to have stopped for a moment, everyone too busy with Ari and the White Coat. "Sophie?" she asked. "How bad is it?" I didn't bother answering, if it was half as bad as it felt she would know. I very slowly moved my head to look at my arm, and wing I guess. It wasn't a pretty sight; limbs should not bend like that. The ground was stained red around me and my feathers were slowing being soaked in it. I closed my eyes and tried to block out the pain.

"Sophie stay with me," Max said urgently, shaking my one good shoulder. I would have batted her off, it really hurt, but I was too tired. _"I'm not going anywhere," _I thought but didn't answer.

"What do I do?" Max growled and then pushed down on my shoulder. My eyes flicked open and I gasped in pain. What on earth did she think she was doing? The world had turned bright, almost blinding, if black around the edges. _"Maybe this is heaven," _I though blearily trying to ignore the agony in my shoulder. _"I've already got wings after all." _I started chuckling; it was all incredibly funny for some reason.

"Come on Soph," Max said franticly. "Don't give up on me."

I closed my eyes fell into blackness.

"…you have no idea how important she is," a voice said, cutting across the void.

"I don't care how important she is," another voice snarled back. "I just want Max." I was vaguely annoyed; these stupid voices were interrupting my nap.

"You can have Maximum, I just want Fly." _"I'm not Fly," _I thought back out of habit.

The pressure on my shoulder ebbed slightly. "You're not taking her," Max said defiantly.

"Stand aside Maximum," the White Coat said.

"You're not taking her," she repeated slowly. I winced as something went click in my shoulder.

"Don't be stupid she needs a doctor," the White Coat pointed out. "I can help."

"Yeah, you helped really well by giving her wings," Max shot back. Sensation wound its way down my arm, and wing. I wished it hadn't, it hurt like hell.

"Stubborn," Ari muttered, I reckon Max glared at him at this point.

"Most people dream of flying," the White Coat said plainly. My shoulder stopped burning, the pain fading to a dull ache.

"Yeah, it'd be great fun if dog boy stopped chasing us," Max said scathingly.

I wrenched my eyes open and gasped a breath then sat up and looked groggily around waiting for the spots to clear from my eyes. My hand flung to my shoulder as it… felt fine. I tentatively touched my wound, it was still sticky with blood but it didn't hurt. I craned my neck to look at my shoulder; I could see smooth skin through the bullet hole - there wasn't even a scar. Weird. Actually having wings is weird, that's just impossible.

Everyone else was staring, even the Erasers. "Amazing," the White Coat murmured. I fidgeted nervously, half opening my wings. Why did they keep staring?

Max recovered first. "Go!" she yelled and started running, snapping open her wings, the flock only a half step behind. I scrambled to my feet and sped after them opening my own wings. Some of the Erasers started to chase after us and the rest went for their guns.

I accelerated; I'm still surprised about how fast I can go, and leaned forwards lifting my wings above my head. The flock took off, each with a graceful sweep of their wings. I just hammered down with mine feeling the wind catch beneath my wings and the breath catch in my throat. It was so beautiful and so not… me. It is me now isn't it?

A bullet whistled past my ear.

"Alive idiots!" Ari and the White Coat yelled in unison. I glanced back; the Erasers were looking at them in confusion, obviously wondering how they were going to catch us. Hopefully they wouldn't. Ari and the White Coat looked furious, both glaring at us as we escaped. I would have laughed if I wasn't concentrating on ignoring how even my breathing was different, and that my shoulder was only aching.

I pushed down again with my wings. My wings. And sped forwards to catch up with the flock.


	12. Down to Earth

Down to Earth 

The flock landed on the outskirts of the town, diving straight towards the ground and flaring their wings at the last second. I didn't even try to copy that, I spiralled down, came into to fast and completely messed up my landing, flaring my wings too late and at totally the wrong angle and ended up flat on my face. Not a very promising start to my accepting flying. It would have been okay if I didn't have this annoying little voice in the back of my mind that knew exactly how I should have landed.

"You okay?" Max asked as I got to my feet.

"Just about," I replied, looking down at my palms which were raw and bloody.

"First landings get us all," Max said with a knowing look.

"Can someone cut the blind kid a break and tell me what the hell is going on," Iggy exclaimed suddenly, taking us all by surprise. "I thought Sophie had been shot or something."

"Yeah could explain that," Nudge said in her usual rush. "Because you were shot and the last time I saw that much blood was when Ari clawed Fang and he had to go to the hospital and…" Max shot her a look. "Now you're better how did that happen?" she finished quickly.

I took a moment before I answered, partly because I was trying to understand half of what Nudge had just said. "I don't know," I said fingering the bullet hole in my gown which was still sticky with blood. "It just healed up. It's never happened before…" I paused.

Now that I thought about it there were a lot of times when I'd healed fast. I was sure I had broken my ankle but that was fine in ten minutes, then I had defiantly broken my wing and I'd been flying (still not used to saying that) a quarter of an hour later, even as far back as the lab when I'd torn my stomach on the window, and now that I thought about it I should've had dozens of scratches from running through the forest.

"It's been happening since I came out of the tank," I said in shock, resisting the urge to wrap my wings around me. They just wouldn't stop changing me would they?

"Healing," Max said. "Cool. I can think of a few times when that could have been useful." She glanced meaningfully at Fang just who shrugged.

"Suppose," I murmured, I wish I could have healed my wings away, but I guess it's an all or nothing package.

"Right," Max said going back into her leader mode. "Sophie, lets get you some proper clothes, those scientists don't exactly the best taste." I smiled understatement of the year. You know that may actually be the first time I've smiled since they took us.

"Won't I stick out?" I suggested, pointing at the crimson stain around my shoulder.

"Okay, we'll find you some clothes," Max said without missing a beat. "I'm sure I saw a Wal-Mart on the way in.

"I'll stay," volunteered Nudge. I suddenly had the feeling that I was going to have my ears talked off.

Angel looked at me and then said "I'll stay too."

"_Thank you," _I thought gratefully. Angel shrugged and looked bashful; though I have no idea why.

"Right then," Max said briskly. "If we're not back in fifteen minutes don't come looking for us."

"Is that likely?" I asked Nudge after they were gone.

"No," she said, sitting down and almost squashing Total who'd also stayed. I joined her "Max is just really protective, but there are Erasers popping up all the time." We sat in silence for about thirty seconds which I think is pretty good for Nudge. Angel started to talk to Total.

"So," Nudge began. "What does healing like that feel like, because we heal really fast but, wow, I was sure you were going to die especially when you stopped breathing for a moment."

"I, did?" I asked hesitantly.

"Uh hu," Nudge said nodding. "Max wasn't watching because she was arguing with that White Coat. Who is he anyway?" I just shrugged; no one had ever said his name. "But I was, and you just healed up like magic."

Another shrug, I didn't really want to think about it. I haven't even gotten used to having wings yet let alone something that creepy. Even wings are at least partway believable. Nudge started talking again but I wasn't paying attention. I touched the bullet hole, my shoulder ached a bit but by all rights I should be dead; my hands had healed up too.

Angel was still talking to Total, I had half hoped she would distract Nudge a bit, honestly you would think he was answering back…

He was answering back wasn't he?

"Please tell me the dog isn't talking," I said with a groan, cutting of Nudge in mid flow.

"The dog!" Total exclaimed angrily.

"Oh," I said numbly. "Good." Any other time that would be the strangest thing I've ever heard, but it's been a weird month.

"You are a dog though," Nudge chided him.

"But you don't have to say it like that," he protested.

"That's okay Total," Angel said wrapping her arms around him. "We know you're not just an ordinary dog." He grumbled a bit then licked Angel's cheek.

"How long has he been able to talk?" I asked Nudge resignedly.

"He! I'm standing right here," Total said irritably.

At this point Max and the others came back with a bundle of clothes and a couple of carrier bags of food, which effectively ended the argument. My new jeans were about a half inch too short and the T-shirt had a stencil of an angel on it and big slits in the back for my wings; but it was better than the lab gown. And I'd probably need my wings anyway.

Max dished out some food which I ate in silence. It's all very well saying your going to accept something; doing it is harder. I wanted Kit to be there, she'd been coping, well she'd been pretending to cope, up until they killed her. Actually what I really wanted to do, deep down, was fly but I'm just going to have to deal with that.

"Sophie," Max said jolting me out of my reverie. "You said you, err, had a home." I nodded. It's funny but wanting to get home had long ago been replaced by not wanting to die.

"Where is it?" Max asked. I pointed, roughly north north west, that's another thing I'm going to have to deal with.

"Cheer up Sophie; I said we'd get you home." I didn't respond, it wasn't a question anyway. Max glanced at Angel who just looked back blankly.

"We're going to fly, is that okay?" Max asked gently.

"Sure," I said sadly, I was accepting flying wasn't I?

We took off one by one, first making sure that no one was watching. It was funny but flying made me feel better. All the problems felt more distant. Strange because my wings were the main cause of my problems. But I like flying, and there isn't a thing I can do about it.


	13. Dog Fighting

Dog Fighting 

We flew in a lose formation. My wings moved powerfully either side of me, cutting easily through the air. It's hard to describe flying; there isn't really a parallel, maybe hang gliding. But you feel the tug on your chest with every flap and the whisper of the wind in your wings and you just want to soar. So not like hang gliding at all actually. This would be so much easier to deal with if I didn't love flying.

"You'd go faster if you moved your wing tips more," Max said, tilting her wings slightly and swooping closer. "The feathers close to you provide the lift, but your wing tips give you speed."

I nodded in acknowledgment and went back to ferociously concentrating on flying. I tried to adapt my wing beats but it was complicated enough without trying anything fancy. I mean, if you don't get your wing beats at exactly the right time then you end up flipping yourself over and falling thirty feet, but I fixed that after about the third time. What's really annoying though is the little voice in the back of my mind that knows exactly how to fly and it would just be so easy to let it in and soar. But that wouldn't be me, they were my wings I was going to learn to fly on my own and not let some alter ego take over. And any other time that would be the weirdest thing I've ever thought.

"How fast would you say we're going?" I asked looking down at the ground far below. I'd been trying to avoid that question but I was getting a crick in my neck from looking up so much.

"Well…" Max began but was interrupted by Gazzy in a perfect rendition of an airplane announcement.

"_Welcome to bird kid airlines; this is your captain speaking," _he began. _"We are currently cruising at an altitude of a thousand feet and are travelling at about sixty miles an hour. Refreshments will be severed as soon as Fang lets his guard down and we can get to the backpack."_

"Not going to happen!" Fang yelled back. Gazzy laughed manically and dived at him. Fang neatly dodged him, clipping Gazzy with his wing as he rushed by. I smiled slightly, possibly for the first time since they took us.

"Are you guys going to mess around like this all day?" asked Max annoyed, or at least acting annoyed, her smile betrayed her though.

"Probably," Gazzy said still grinning.

"Just thought I'd make sur…" Max tailed off as over twenty Erasers soared into view over the tree tops half mile away. "Hell," she said simply then launched into action. "Right back the other way, go as fast as you can and don't look back."

"Max you might want to look back," Fang said simply. Max looked over her shoulder and swore. I looked back and saw another swarm of Erasers, led by Ari, chasing after us.

"Right, new plan," Max said confidently. "We fly as fast as we can towards the first group, hit them hard and then get away as fast as possible. Don't stop and don't take on more than you can handle." She looked meaningfully at Fang then glanced at Iggy. "Ig do you have any surprises prepared for them?"

"Isn't that a dumb question?" Iggy asked smiling.

"Probably. Soph, stick with me and you'll be fine," she said flying closer. I nodded grimly, ignoring the panic in my stomach.

"Okay everyone ready?" She asked, not waiting for a response. "Let's go!"

She accelerated away closely followed by the flock. I pumped my wings harder and took off after them. This was so stupid; we couldn't go up against twenty Erasers. Well maybe they could, but I'd just get torn apart. I suddenly realised that I was flying a lot more smoothly and then in horror that I'd let the instinct take over. I forced it out and nearly fell out of the air. Okay maybe I could use it a little bit. Just for the tricky stuff.

I caught up the with the others, Max was looking determined, Gazzy was looking worried, Fang wasn't showing any emotion at all and Angel was somehow managing to seem serene. I swallowed hard and tried to guess how long until we hit. Ten seconds maybe, if we were lucky. A group of Erasers broke off from the others, flying up to get above us for some reason. I don't know why; I've never really felt the need to learn about air combat before. I recognised the one leading them as one of the ones that had originally chased me; actually they all were.

"Good luck!" Max yelled a second before we hit and then we were amongst them; black shapes flying everywhere. There was a crack and a cry of pain as Max punched an Erasers wing at a hundred and twenty miles an hour. An Eraser loomed before me and I threw myself to one side, just missing his outstretched claws and got my wing angle all wrong and stalled; my wings acting like two big parachutes and feeling like they were being pulled off my shoulders.

An Eraser with a rapidly blackening eye charged at me and I dived out of his way, pulling my wings in tight and dropping thirty feet before opening them again. I pulled up sharply and dodged round an Eraser falling screaming to earth, I suppressed a shudder. I should be worried that I can think of more horrible ways to go.

I felt a slight breeze across my feathers and barrel rolled out of the way of an Eraser who dived past mere inches away. I gasped in surprise, how did I know he was there? There was a growl of annoyance from above me and I looked up to see four Erasers swooping down at me. All from the original group that had chassed me, funny that. I speed away, trying to remember to flap my wings in sync and trim them to accelerate at the same time.

It was so complicated. I swung left as one dived at me claws outstretched, snagging a feather as he passed. Why was it so complicated? One fell into sync above me, matching me beat for beat with relative ease. It was so simple before. He dropped down on me. I folded my wings without thinking and fell; outstripping the bulky Erasers with ease. That one thing I'm better at, at least - plummeting to my doom.

"There's no escape, fly girl!" yelled the Eraser only a few feet behind me. "You're coming back with us!" I tried to ignore him and focus on going faster. My wing tips flickered, keeping my centre of gravity in the right place. I didn't even want to think about how I knew and could do that. Actually I knew why I could but I didn't want to think about it.

The ground rushed towards me. For a moment I thought about not stopping, it would be better than going back to the lab. I flared my wings at the very last second, pulling up just inches above the ground and found myself flying along a road, momentarily alone. There was a roar and I swerved out of the way of an Eraser who went flying past, clipped the road and went spinning to earth. I speed past him, not looking back. I didn't want to; I heard a lot of crashes though.

This was crazy, one mistake at this speed and we'd be road kill, I had to get away. A car appeared in front of me and I had about half a second to react. I pushed down hard with my wings and passed over it, catching a little speed of the slipstream without thinking. I just had to out perform them. Little wings are more manoeuvrable right? An Eraser came up either side of me. I could do this. I just had to keep dodging. I tilted my wings slightly making them think I was about to turn and then braked suddenly, letting them shoot past. Of course I was using every ounce of the bird instinct that I'd been trying to suppress but I could go through the inner torment when I wasn't running for my life.

The Erasers tried to turn to come after me but I sped up and rocketed past them buying me few more seconds. I could outwit them. I could do this. The Erasers came at me again, one above, one on either side and one behind. I tried to outpace them but was already going flat out. So much for outwitting them.

"Game over, Fly!" yelled the Eraser with the flair for the dramatic. Hmm, Déjà vu. I didn't respond this time, he was probably right anyway. I pulled up, braked and banked left all at once and shot through a gap between them, headed for the trees. I could do it. I could easily lose them in the trees.

I crashed into the forest, braches whipping at my face and I fought to keep my eyes open. I could do it. I swerved left as a tree trunk loomed in front of me and then I flew on my side to get through a gap between the trees. I had to have lost the Erasers. No way could they have flown through there. I swerved right to avoid another grasping branch. I'd done it, I'd esc… My wing hit a trunk, I felt something snap and I screamed in pain and lost control, smashing into heavy boughs at over a hundred miles an hour and crashing through the trees, my whole world spinning. I felt more bones break and one particularly sharp branch went clean through my arm and then it all faded into a relentless sea of pain.

I finally came to rest upside-down against a tree trunk. Looking hazily out into the forest. Feeling the blood pool in my mouth. A dark shape flew through the forest and alighted in a tree opposite me. I knew it wasn't the flock this time though.

And then everything went black.


	14. Home

Home

I awoke in pain, lots of pain. Better than I expected though. I thought I was a goner after the tenth tree. I cracked open my eyes and immediately shut them again as bright light seared my retinas. Every inch of me ached and most of my bones felt like they'd been replaced with bundles of splinters. I tired to wiggle my toes to see if everything was still working but nothing happened. Okay so I guess even my incredible healing has some limits, though I was still there so it's pretty good I suppose.

"Great, just great," a voice growled angrily. I probably had concussion or something because it felt like it was reverberating inside my skull. Couldn't he see I was dying here?

"We got her, didn't we boss?" another gravely voice asked. "That's what they wanted, wasn't it?"

"Alive you idiot," the first said angrily. "Emphasis on _alive_."

"It wasn't our fault though," another piped up.

"And they're really going to see it that way, aren't they?" the first said sarcastically.

Something clicked in my neck and suddenly I felt the full force of the pain. I whimpered slightly but only because screaming was beyond me. It was fading though, slowly, very slowly.

"Hey, did she just move?" the second asked sounding puzzled.

"Yeah right, like she's really going to survive hitting a tree at a hundred and twenty. Maybe you didn't get a good look at Five 'cause I think that's the definition of road kill."

"Nah, she definitely moved," he said and then poked me hard in the ribs with his boot. That hurt. That hurt a lot. I wrenched my eyes open and opened my mouth in a soundless scream. I couldn't scream, it was too painful, but I meant it.

"Well, what do you know?" The first one said looming over me. "She really isn't dead. Hello, Fly."

"Not Fly!" I tried to say but nothing came out. I thought it real loud though.

"You've given us quite the chase," he said grinning viciously. "But I don't see your little friends around here to save you this time." I tried to make a rude retort but only a slight hiss came out. Maybe I'd punctured a lung or something; I really hoped my healing could cope with that. Still I think he got it though because his grin got wider, or at least he showed more teeth.

"Now, now, that's not very nice," he chided, and then said to the others. "Go back to the rendezvous and get a cage. I'll take care of her for now."

"Couldn't we just take her with?" a fourth asked.

"No, it would be cruel to move someone in such a bad state," he said with a sneer looking back down at me. "Well, what are you waiting for, get going?" The other Erasers rolled their eyes and began to walk off through the woods.

"Well now, Fly," he said squatting down next to me.

"Not. Fly," I gasped. My arm screamed in pain briefly and then it was gone, I still couldn't move though and I didn't even want to think about how many more bones I had to do that with.

"Aren't you now?" He said taking a knife out of his belt. "So you're not the one that escaped my flight. Not the one that got away despite all our orders to bring you back. Not the one who we were punished for!" He was practically yelling at this point waving the knife under my nose. I tired to shy away but that just caused another wave of pain so I stopped. Maybe I could talk my way out of it?

"Back," I said laboriously. "You. Tried. To. Kill me."

He looked at me hard. "Trust me kid, if I'd tried to kill you you'd be dead. Besides why would they want to kill you?" he said rage smouldering in his eyes, more so than usual for Erasers. "You worked didn't you? You're one of their new golden kids. Not us though, Erasers with wings is just old news! Swept away! Blown aside! Oh that worked! What! Next!" He raised the knife high above his head and slammed it down next to my shoulder.

The bone in my wing crunched, already weakened from hitting the trees and the knife when clean through. I screamed properly this time as the knife cleaved through sinew and bone.

"Let's see how special you are without your pretty little wings," he said growling, dragging the knife down my wing, cutting it off where it blended into my side. I think I was crying at this point, I was already hazy from the pain and now there was an awful lot of blood spilling out of my side.

He yanked out my other wing were it was crumpled underneath me and began hacking at it but I was already floating away on a cloud of blood loss, even my incredible healing unable to cope, but at least it was being kind and letting me pass out.

Then everything went black. Again.

I woke up slowly this time; I ached all over but didn't hurt. So, better than last time. My stomach growled loudly and I realised how hungry I was, hadn't I had breakfast, like, half an hour ago? I opened my eyes and saw bars.

I jolted awake and looked at the bars in panic trying not to hyperventilate. I sat up suddenly and whacked my head on the bars but I ignored it, I couldn't stand being caged again. I grabbed at what looked like the front of the cage and rattled at the bars desperately. I couldn't be caged, not again, not ever! I flared my wings without thinking about just how stupid and ineffective that was.

Nothing happened.

My hands flew to my back where I felt. Nothing. No feathers, just tender skin where my wing joint should have been. It felt weird, I could swear that I could still feel them furled against my back, but I guess managed to get used to it. I went back to trying to open the cage. One crisis at a time please. The front of the cage didn't just rattle off and the big padlock on the front probably meant it never would.

I stopped trying to shake the door off and sat back trying to calm myself. I just had to stay calm and think of a way out. I'd tried that last time and got a whopping great pair of wings for my trouble so it doesn't work but at least it was a comforting thought… Damn it! I looked around wildly, for the first time looking beyond my cage. I was in a small dark space with one small window in one wall. A van?

There was a loud bang on one of the walls and someone yelled. "Get a move on!" An engine revved, so definitely a van. Which meant they were talking me back to the lab. I started kicking at the door; I was never going back there. Ever! The van started moving with a jolt and I whacked my head against the bars. These Erasers were determined to give me a concussion.

As if to prove my point the van screeched round a corner sending me and my cage sliding across the floor. Something hit the roof and the van swerved suddenly. What was going on out there? Another bang and then suddenly a gun roared; there was a moment's silence where I could hear nothing but the rumble of the engine; then there was a crash and the sound of splintered glass. The van careened out of control, jerked suddenly and then tried to corner far too fast.

The whole frame shook as the wheels left the tarmac then the van began to roll. The front of the van hit something with the sound of tearing metal and the rear end was whipped round, my cage being thrown against the doors and me inside it. After a few seconds, which felt more like hours inside a blender, inside a washing machine, the van came to rest. I lay on my back stunned, staring at the sunlight through a rent in the side.

Something blocked out the light and I blinked rapidly to clear my vision.

"You okay Sophie?" Max asked, swimming into view and kicking a larger hole in the side.

"Just about," I said weakly, shaking my head and realising that the door to my cage had come off in the crash.

Max grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the van. "Can you fly?" she asked hurriedly, obviously not noticing my now total lack of wings.

"No,"

"Then run!" She started running off deeper into the woods dragging me with her. I looked over my shoulder to see what we were running from and saw the flock holding off another group of Erasers. At this point I put my head down and ran.

"Come on guys move!" Max yelled over her shoulder and we raced away into the forest, I didn't look back; if there is one thing I've learned you don't want to look back.

Ten minutes later Max and I were in a clearing gasping for breath and waiting for the rest of the flock after finally losing the Erasers.

"Max?" I asked after a minute or so.

"Yeah,"

"Can I go home now?"

"Sure. Can't think why not,"

We got to my house without incident. Well, we went on a train and judging from everyone else's reaction that was quite a big incident but we didn't meet any Erasers and that's the important thing. Maybe we were lucky and they'd finally given up.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Max asked as I opened my front gate.

"More than anything else," I said, sounding totally mushy and not caring.

"Okay, Fang has a blog, you can contact us there if you need any help." I nodded; hopefully I'd never need to use it. Finally I was escaping the nightmare.

"Maybe we'll see you around," she suggested.

"Yeah," I said softly, though that would mean I'd be back in the nightmare. "Thanks, thanks for everything.

"Hey, it's what I do," she said bashfully, then to the flock. "Come on guys lets go."

I watched them go, soaring into the sky and half wanted to go with them. But that was over, I didn't have wings, I could just go home, be normal; live.

I walked shaking to my front door. What was I going to tell them, Kit and I had been missing for a month, just what was I supposed to say? That we'd been kidnapped by mad scientists sounds a bit far fetched. I rang the bell. It didn't matter anyway, I was home. It was over.

My mum opened the door looking just like I remembered her.

"Mum I…" I began, but then she collapsed into my arms.

"Sophie," she murmured joyfully, holding me close, making my hair damp with her tears. "You're back. You're back."

Fin


	15. Afterword

Afterword

Well that's it. It's been a while, about four months to be precise, and I really enjoyed writing Borrowed Wings but as I said it's been four months. While I fully understand that the end really does just end with a lot left hanging but that was how I was always going to write it and I will be writing a sequel at some point so maybe that will make up for it.

Also in answer to a few questions. Yes, there is no way the lab's ever just going to leave Sophie alone and while she looks human she still is a bird kid just less the wings, so I give it about two weeks before something gives the game away and it all starts all over again. And yes, her wings should grow back but as her healing abilities are triggered by injury and technically her wings have just healed over so they shouldn't come back unless something like, oh I don't know, Sophie gets slashed by an Eraser across the back, that kind of thing. Additionally, as some of you may have figured out, Sophie never actually saw Kit die so she may well be in a sequel but I really want to write some more of the Freed so no sequel for now.

And finally I would like to thank everyone who gave me a review and I know I never reply but usually I can't think of anything to say beyond what would be answered in the next chapter and thanks.

So thanks:

**Kathy Lang**

**Golden Nugget**

**Lost Among the Stars**

**SamanthaFantasyFan**

**icydragon**

**Azulcat**

**Dino12345610**

**Marie47**

**hannahjkoneal**

**Zara**

**lalallama**

**Bigfoot TI**

**Stellar Raven**

Thanks for reading,

Billy Morph


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